I've not seen a tourbnament before (and I wasnt around at the start of .de or .com), so I wondered if someone could give me some info.

I guess the lexicon is the same?
What about money, do you start with the same amount as you do in the normal .com environment?
I guess it must be tough at the beginning without much money coming in from the starcredit redistribution sytem?
How long does the game last (in terms of actual time and in terms of the number of turns everyone takes?
Are there timelimits on turns?
I guess the universe is smaller, does this make expansion without conflict difficult?
How do you determine the winner?
etc
etc

It all differs from tournament to tournament.. but most times it is like this:

You'll get 4 planets of the size 3, one of them is your home planet. They will have at least one good productivity, so you will get enough of each ressource for the start. You will get also some credits and ressources at start, not much but enough for the first rounds. The population at start will be higher then normally on new settled planets, so you will get more credits.

You're factories will be on some level, 6 or 8 or so, so you need not to build them up from scratch. Same for the shipyard.

How long the game lasts differs also, some started at 10:00 AM (with enroll time from 9:00 - 9:55) and ended at 20:00 PM, this were the longer tournaments with 49 turns.

The shorter tournaments begin at 11:00 AM or 12:00 AM with enroll till 111:55 or 12:55, and start at 12:00 or 13:00 (1:00 PM). Then they go until 18:00 (6:00 PM) and have 36/30 turns, with a turn timelimit of 10 Minutes per turn.

The universe is relativly small, most times you see 2-4 other players at start! You will have to conquer them, to make a NAT - or they will conquer you. The first attacks will within the first 10 rounds i think..

1 month pro is to short?
This player that have the 1month-pro want to keep the pro-acc,
then he/she has to pay!

But a higher level for winners is very well.
The Problem is this players have the advantages forever, not very economical for ,,The Maelstroem Company"!
Presents were the best way,
presents with choices:
1 X H10 or a planet = 2nd winner
1 X H9 = third winner
pro-acc = winner

Stop shooting smoke out of you ass, it is up to the mods if the tourny starts why don't you listen to them instead of saying it is time for a tourny.
But Maelstrom never said exactly how many .com users there are. Maelstrom could you please verify how many more we need for a tourny. thank you.

i think at the moment not the numbers are the crucial thing, but maelis time, hes still busy with getting the new server running and he already told us that he won't do another tournament on the old one